AMLO postpones Mayan Train inauguration in Quintana Roo

The inauguration of the Mayan Train, a project that connects five states in the southeast of the country -including Quintana Roo- will be on December 15 and not on the first day of that month, as the federal government had promised.

During his visit to Cancun, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador also acknowledged that the inauguration will be partial, due to the complications faced by Section 5, which runs from Cancun to Tulum.

“We will inaugurate (the stretch) from Palenque to Cancun, the train, December 15, that is the plan. There are some challenges, challenges, one of them is that we are building and the Boca del Cerro bridge is being launched, on the Usumacinta, in Tenosique, it already started to be launched, but we are talking about crossing the largest river in Mexico, the Usumacinta, and it is the canyon, the exit of the Usumacinta River, from the upper part, not navigable, already the exit for the navigable river, this in Tenosique. They have already started to launch the bridge, but it will depend on that”.

In the case of section 5, the President acknowledged that “it has been more complex than we imagined”, because they are building so as not to affect underwater rivers, cenotes, for which they built more than 80 kilometers of double track viaducts, so the responsibility for this section was divided in half, since one part is in charge of the military engineers and the other half in charge of three companies that are also working on the Mayan Train: ICA, Mota-Engil and INDI.

The president came to Quintana Roo to make a second tour for the Mayan Train operation tests, with the objective of testing the Cancun-Escarcega section.

“We are going to board the train here in Cancun. We are going to pass to Valladolid, there we are going to have an evaluation meeting at the station. Then we arrive in Merida. We rest in Merida. We board the train again in Merida, in Teya. Before, we held an evaluation meeting, in the case of Valladolid we are going to evaluate section 5 and section 4, which is the section from Cancun to Yucatan. In Merida, I repeat, before boarding, we hold an evaluation meeting and there we review the progress of section 3 and section 2.”

“Section 5 is going to be pending, but as the companies are working, I believe that by the end of January we can open the Cancun-Tulum section of the train, the airport will already be there. And by February at the latest we will have all the 1,554 kilometers, that is what we are working on. What we want is for the train to start operating, for tickets to start being sold.

Afterwards, López Obrador said he will visit the Calkiní station to visit the Uxmal archeological zone, “because conservation work is being done in all the archeological zones of the southeast, of what was the great Mayan nation,” to head to Campeche, where he will rest.

“And from there we will take the train again and arrive in Escárcega, which is a new section that is already in process and we will arrive in the train to Escárcega, to the station. There we will make a new evaluation of sections 6 and 7, the one that goes from Tulum to Chetumal and from Chetumal to Escárcega. So we will have an idea of how we are doing”.

For her part, Governor Mara Lezama emphasized that the Mayan Train, as well as all the other works being carried out by the federal government, will be the best gift for the 49th anniversary of the state of Quintana Roo, as it brings social justice and will help improve the quality of life of the population.

She also highlighted that at this moment there are 208 students studying the career of high school technical professional in Railroad Transportation at the Conalep, both at the Chetumal and Cancun campuses; besides the students of the Railroad Engineering career at the Technological Institute of Cancun and professionals in design, construction and conservation of railroads of the Mexican Chamber of the Construction Industry.

TYT Newsroom